I signal my opposition to the use of a guillotine on the Social Welfare Bill and Public Service Pay and Pensions Bill today. As there is only one amendment tabled to the Social Welfare Bill, we should be able to move quickly on to the second Bill, on which there are seven amendments. I have tabled one or two amendments, which are down the list. We should not guillotine these sessions, as they will be quick enough.

Discussing my next issue will be harder for me, but I will try my best to speak without emotion getting in the way. Today, I woke up to a phone call about another friend passing away due to addiction. This happens to me often. It is an issue of class. So far this year, I have buried four friends - two because of addiction, one because of homelessness and one because of suicide. I sat there this morning and counted the friends I had lost since I was 13 years of age. There were 42. It is not old age, it is not cancer, it is not anything that everyone else experiences. It is the impact of how we live, where we live and the opportunities that we have.

At this point, I am just pleading - I have asked for it before - to have a real, open, honest conversation in this Chamber with the Minister for Justice and Equality on the issue of class. I have no interest in blaming Ministers, budgets or all of those things. That is not what I want to do. I want to have a conversation that looks to how we can work together to find solutions to stopping so many young people from dying unnecessarily in deprived communities. I have said it before and it is something that I will stand over, but class is killing us. Were we any other group of people, this would be taken more seriously. I do not want to play a blame game about why society is set up in a certain way. I want a conversation about it and I want a real debate on it. I want to be able to remember my friends in a dignified way and let them know that their Government cares about them and wants to change the situation.

In the new year, will the Leader please invite the Minister for Justice and Equality to the House to debate the issue of class? It is something that I entered this Chamber to highlight. It would mean a lot to me if we could have that conversation.

Hear, hear.

Like others, I wish everyone a happy Christmas, especially the staff who support us all so well.

Senator Ó Céidigh referred to the retention of doctors, nurses and teachers. We are facing a crisis in general practice, with a large tranche of doctors set to retire in the coming years, an increasing population and, rightly, greater delivery being asked of primary care. I welcome the Minister's decision to give medical cards to carers, who do invaluable work and go to great lengths to support the ones they love and keep them at home. I hope that he will also put the resources in place to allow doctors to do that work. I have encountered more doctors closing their lists because of the workload. They cannot cope. We need a proper new contract as quickly as possible and we must address these issues. As the Senator stated, many of our younger doctors are leaving the country, so we are getting caught at both ends.

In the context of carers, I wish to raise an important issue that I have raised previously, namely, pensions. Some 40,000 people have been unjustly discriminated against by the 2012 Act. They are mainly women who took time off work to care for their children, the elderly and other loved ones. The Ministers, Deputies Donohoe and Regina Doherty, are working on this matter, but I encourage them to expedite their work and rectify this injustice as quickly as possible in the new year. It reflects badly on our society that we discriminate against the very people who go the extra mile to look after, keep at home and support those whom we all love and appreciate. I hope the Ministers will move on this as quickly as possible in the new year.

Like many others, I wish the staff a happy Christmas.

Judging from the television this morning, it will be a difficult Christmas for people who lost family members in that terrible fire in London. It has been six months since the fire in Grenfell Tower. We remember our own people who were lost in the Stardust fire. Those families have never got over the loss of their children. They raise the matter constantly, rightly so.

I have sought answers on the issue I am raising this morning. Since the terrible fire in London, the London fire brigade has changed how it deals with high-rise fires. When I say "high-rise", people think of large towers, but they are not. They are six storeys and above. There are many such buildings across the country.

Prior to the Grenfell fire, London fire brigade would send four fire appliances and one high-reach vehicle. In the six months since, it has changed that complement to five appliances and one high-reach vehicle. Why are we only sending three fire appliances and one high-reach vehicle? Following the Grenfell Tower fire, the London fire brigade has ordered new high-reach appliances, which are necessary when one is going above six storeys. There are only three aerial appliances in Dublin, all of which are second-hand and spend more time out of service than in service.

After the fire in London, we carried out a survey in Ireland and found 262 multi-storey buildings with questionable cladding. I have asked a question time and again but have not got an answer - is there a register in each fire brigade station of these buildings' locations? Do our first responders know what they are walking into when the bell rings and they set out in their fire appliances? They could arrive at one of these buildings with questionable cladding that transfers fire rapidly through the building. We would be sending our first responders into those buildings.

When I raised this matter previously, I got no answers. The Minister of State, Deputy Phelan, told me that he would contact his officials and revert to me. I only raised this matter to prevent a tragedy like the one in London from happening in Dublin, Cork, Limerick or Galway. We need action, and I want answers as quickly as possible. I do not want to drag the Minister of State into the House. If we could just get some answers to the questions we raise in this Chamber, it would be helpful. If the Minister of State is not prepared to forward answers, there is no option but to ask him to return to the House, which I will do early in the new year if I do not get those answers.

I thank Senator Ruane for her passionate intervention on the drugs issue. That 42 of her friends have died is horrific. We need to debate this issue, which we have sometimes ignored. There were inner city issues in the 1980s, especially in Dublin, but heroin and other drugs are a nationwide issue. Young male relatives of mine from privileged backgrounds have died. We need to have this serious debate in the new year. Senator Ruane is right, in that this is about class. While lifestyles and a lack of education are involved, it is a class issue. I thank the Senator for raising it in an emotional and passionate way.

Last night, in the House of Commons, the British Government lost a vote which means that the UK Parliament will have the final say on the Brexit agreement. It is good to see common sense breaking out. Last week was a good week for the island of Ireland. We have done the UK and Europe a service. I pay tribute to the Tory MPs who voted with their conscience. I hope that the UK, which is an ally of ours, will stay in the European Union. We must do everything possible to work with our friends and neighbours to ensure that we get as good a deal as possible for the island of Ireland and the UK and the European Union.